Blog Mistakes

Blogging has quickly become very
common place, and while blogs may be plentiful,
many bloggers still make a number of mistakes
when it comes to managing their blogs. Presented
here are the most common blog mistakes, in hopes
that you can avoid making them yourself...

Mistake #1 - Failure To Provide
Search Functionality

Blogs should be searchable. Include a search function
on the blog so that website visitors can easily
search your blog content for the things they are
interested in or looking for.

Mistake #2 - Failure To Offer
Syndication

Failure to provide an RSS feed for blog content
is a common mistake. RSS feeds will significantly
increase the number of blog followers. Many blogging
platforms will automatically create an RSS feed
for the content -- if your current content management
system does not have that ability, you can manually
create the RSS feeds yourself, or use software
like FeedForAll ( http://www.feedforall.com
) to create the feeds. RSS feeds will increase
your blogs exposure and readership.

Mistake #3 - Failure To Personalize

Blogs are meant to be personal. Blogs that
consist mostly of impersonal, factual news clips
will not attract as much interest as a blog with
a distinct personality. Add character and personality
to your blog by personalizing your blog posts.
Readers tend to enjoy blogs that contain personality
and character.

Mistake #4 - Failure To Subscribe To Your Own
Blog

Be sure to subscribe to your own blog and
RSS feed, so that you can see exactly what your
readers are seeing. Click through the blog posts
to ensure that your linking schemes are functioning
properly. Sometimes you might be surprised by
how your blog content is being displayed to your
readers, so be sure to subscribe to your own blog
in order to quickly correct any errors.

Mistake #5 - Poor Navigation To Archives

It is important that you provide clear navigation
to older blog posts. You can often categorize
blog posts or list related blog posts beneath
your main blog posts, which gives the reader access
to additional related material if they found your
blog post interesting.
Mistake #6 - Lack Of Consistency

Blog postings should be consistent, both in frequency
and in tone. Blog readers will expect consistency
in blog posts, and straying too far from the established
and expected frequency or tone could sour some
readers.

Mistake #7 - Lack Of Theme

Blog posts should be united by a common theme,
simply because subscribers will follow blogs that
contain an ongoing topic they are interested in.
If the blog is simply a collection of random and
unrelated posts, your subscribers may lose interest
and wander away.
Mistake # 8 - Failure To Use Stable Hosting

Hosting should be reliable and stable. Nothing
is more frustrating to a reader than being unable
to click through on a blog post they are interested
in. Use a stable web host and platform, even if
it means you have to spend a little more money.

Mistake #9 - Changing Half-Way

Many people will try blogging initially, using
a 3rd-party for hosting, and once they realize
it is successful they decide to host and manage
their blog locally. This means that any followers
they've managed to obtain prior to that point
must then resubscribe to the RSS feed or go to
a different URL for the most recent blog posts.
If you are going to blog, don't do it half-way
and then change things in mid-stream. As they
say: go big or go home -- meaning that you should
do it the right way from the beginning, or not
bother.

Mistake #10 - Lack Of Monitoring Metrics

View your blog logs on a regular basis, so you
know which articles your viewers enjoy the most.
Then you'll know how to give your readers more
of what has already been of interest to them.
Analytics are critical in determining what people
like and dislike, so don't rely on assumptions...
rely on numbers.